MOSCOW, April 28. /TASS/. Anatoly Chubais, the ex-CEO of Rusnano corporation and a former Russian presidential envoy, is currently staying in Italy and doesn’t plant to come to Russia to testify in the case on the theft of his property worth 70 million rubles (nearly 946,000 US dollars) against his former business partner Ilya Suchkov, a source close to Chubais told TASS on Thursday.

"He left Russia onboard a private plane and headed to Europe via Turkey, where he stayed for a while. According to preliminary information, he is currently staying in Italy, where he has property," the source said, adding that Chubais doesn’t plant to return to Russia to testify as an injured party at a Moscow court hearing of the case on the theft of his property.

On Wednesday, Moscow’s Khamovniki district court postponed hearings of the case for nearly a month due to the absence of the injured party and a witness.

TASS tried to contact Chubais for comments but his representatives refused to disclose either his whereabouts or his position on the case.

The criminal case was initiated by the Moscow region’s police in 2017 following Chubais’ motion about the theft of property from a residential compound in the Village of Predelki near Moscow. In the course of preliminary investigation, the damage was reduced from three billion rubles (some 40.54 million US dollars) to 70 million rubles. Chubais and Tilsok company were recognized as the injured parties.

The key defendant is Chubais’ former business partner Ilya Suchkov, who is accused of two episodes of large-scale fraud (part 4, article 159 of the Russian Criminal Code) and a large-scale theft (part 4, article 158 of the Russian Criminal Code). Other defendants are Musa Sadayev, a member of the Parnas political council, Anton Polyakov, a gatekeeper, and Alexey Ulyakhin, director of the Argus private security firm. They are accused of theft. Neither of them recognizes the guilt. The measure of restraint for them is a ban on certain activities.